Happy Six

Just like that, you’re into the post-half-birthday world. Yikes. Your Daddy picked you up for a special birthday cuddle this morning and told you that you were Little Noey no more — “Medium Noey”, he called you, but I objected. Little Noey you still are, though you’re not quite so little anymore, are you?

This month in particular has been an exciting one for you, and for me, in good ways as well as some trying ones.

Mummy’s officially been back at work for a full month and a bit, which means that on alternate days, you’ve been in the care of either your Mamah or your Nainai. For the most part you’ve been good. Your Mamah tells me that you play and sleep well and are generally happy. I don’t see why not when there are so many people at her place to play with you. You particularly love your Jiujiu and would kick excitedly whenever you see him. I’m glad cos in a way, your Jiujiu is like my first baby, and I love him dearly. I’ll just have to watch out that you don’t pick up his bad habits of constant TV and computer games!

Unfortunately, whether as a result of my going back to work or otherwise, you went on more frequent milk strikes, particularly at the start of the month. It wasn’t just the bottle you were rejecting but also the breast as well on some days. You have been a busy baby and with “so much to see! so much to do!” (as your Daddy likes to say), you just couldn’t and didn’t want to spare some time for the very mundane task of drinking your milk. I found myself having to resort to catching you for a feed as soon as you woke up from a nap and it was, thankfully, mostly effective.

It was harder for everyone else giving you the bottle however, which was partly why I decided that it might be a good idea to progress you to solids. That way I would at least know that you were getting some nutrition in my absence. After your rocky start to solids, you’ve taken to everything I’ve fed you like a champ AS LONG AS I don’t add any breastmilk to it. Geez, you really mean business when you’re on a milk strike! Your poor Mummy here feels all rejected.

Now you kick excitedly when you see me mixing up your food in your bowl. So far, you’ve had rice cereal, carrots, sweet potato, pears and rusks. Just wait till we try spinach…

“Hey, hands off my spoon Mummy!”

I guess it’s a good thing you’re taking more varieties of food because you’ve developed a lot physically. You’re now sitting well, which gives you a new position from which to play with your toys…

… and for us to play with you.

Because you are much stronger and can hoist yourself into a sitting position from a reclining one much more easily, one really annoying habit you’ve developed is chewing on the guard rail in front of your stroller whenever you are placed in it. I’ve tried reclining you further back to make it more difficult for you to sit up, and even resorted to tipping the stroller back to shake you off, but you are strong and persistent when it comes to getting things in your mouth. You’ve given many a passer-by a good laugh sitting in that position as I push you along.

I think it’s a phase but you love to chew/lick EVERYTHING. Your toys. Your fingers. Your toes. The cupboard. The metal legs of our coffee table. The edges of your bathtub. Your books. Basically anything you can get to before we yank you off. And you particularly love the corners of any object. I know you’re exploring but it’s a really icky habit.

And speaking of exploring, you love to be on the go. Where a couple of weeks back you used to inch forward, you have now mastered the art of crawling (albeit still in combat mode), and it’s surprising how quickly you can move. I turn for a moment to grab something off the counter or from the next room and you’re off the surface I left you and gone exploring. That does mean I have to be a whole lot more watchful of you and can’t let you out of my sight when you’re on an elevated surface.

Oops, caught in the act trying to flee the mattress before a diaper change…

… and somehow ending up under your cot!

Two things that you really go for are our laptops. You can almost see your eyes light up when you spot a laptop in the distance and zoom! Off you go to give it a good chew and thumping.

As you can see, you’ve also become quite steady standing up and leaning against something for support. You can’t quite keep your balance though and will keel over to the side if you shift your position. You also can’t pull yourself up yet though I suspect you’ll develop that skill before long. You’ve started reaching for the rail of your cot and your Mamah has been telling me to lower your cot yet again. I think we will, but not quite just yet. Those are strong legs you’ve got there baby. (A fact I am unfortunately well aware of considering the number of times I have been kicked by you!)

Thinking that you might like to practice standing and also in a bid to give myself a break and encourage you to self-entertain, I decided to rent a Jumperoo for you. I thought it would be fun, but I wasn’t confident that you’d enjoy it, so I decided to rent instead of buy the item. It turned out to be a good call on my part cos you can’t stay in the contraption for 15 mins before wanting to get out. You do like the toys though, and during the initial days you would spin round and round (instead of bouncing) as each item caught your attention. Now you still want to play with the toys, but from OUTSIDE the seat. Sigh.

I’m now thinking of renting more stuff for you to play with. Stay tuned.

Unfortunately sleepwise, your inability to sleep through the night and put yourself back to sleep when you stir in the middle of the night seems to be getting worse. AHHH. Even your Mummy here who needs very little sleep has to admit defeat and confess that I’m really tired of tending to you at night. You don’t generally have problems falling asleep and can fall asleep while being carried, being nursed, or on your own in your car seat if you’re tired. Staying asleep is a different matter though. I’m praying that a regular diet of solids would help progress you to having a better night’s sleep but I think it may not be the solution because I don’t think you only wake up because you’re hungry. We’re going to jiggle the bed set up to allow you to get more breeze from the fan and get you a new pillow to see if it would help. Please help me and help yourself because I don’t think sleep training will be fun for either of us.

You do seem to sleep better in our bed (though still not well enough for me to seriously consider moving you in) but you’re such a wriggler, often turning yourself 90 degrees and jabbing me with your lethal toes and pushing both your Daddy and I off the bed so you’re barred from permanent residence.

The sleep issue is my only complaint. Otherwise, you’re a happy bub, full of gurgles and smiles. Your Mamah told me the other day that she finds taking care of you such a joy — something she did not expect to enjoy as much prior to your arrival. Everyone in the family loves you so much that sometimes when we go out, they practically fight each other to carry you and make you laugh and smile. You have become more selective though, and when in the arms of someone unfamiliar, have the tendency to burst into tears. Oh, how you can turn on the waterworks!

But you reserve your best smiles for your Daddy and me. Daddy always says he’s second choice for you but I know you love him and it always warms my heart to see my two boys having a good time together.

I guess the plus side to you growing up is that you start being able to participate and we can do more things together. Let’s see what the next month would bring for us, shall we?